


Earth Calling

by Tay Queen (Washedawaycloud)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Flash Fiction, Gen, Short Story, Space!, space fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 09:19:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16472825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Washedawaycloud/pseuds/Tay%20Queen
Summary: Sometimes a shitty day is a reallyshittyday.





	Earth Calling

 In the words of one famous fictional character: Space is disease and death. He wasn’t entirely wrong, but not entirely right either. Space is silent, and vast, something we learned before we ever took to the stars to find a way to save our dying planet. Rapidly dying, as far as we were concerned. In the early 2000s we turned to Mars, in the 2100s Venus, and then beyond. The milky way was and will always be our home, the place we first flourished and knew to be ours. 

There are hundreds of planets we expanded to through the centuries that were earth-like, and even more that weren’t, and we live there anyway. The core planets are healing, though, and that is possibly the most important fact to know about the Milky Way galaxy and it’s humans. The second most important thing to know about Humanity and the Milky Way galaxy is that some time in the 2250s they gave up on war. 

Gave up might be too kind a description. Humanity nearly drove itself to extinction in the 2190s into the 2240s, and by 2250, things needed to change. A fractured society, always playing us vs them when they are all humans wasn’t going to cut it. That’s how we came to have the Milky Way Federation. One government, one galaxy, one people. No more war. Stringent, immediate negotiations when issues arise, ruthless removal of problematic rising public politicians. It isn’t a perfect system, but it’s working, has worked, for several hundred years now. 

So much so, that when the first neighbors came calling, we greeted them like friends, rather than enemies. Humans are the little brother of the universe, by most people’s reckoning, and no one has asked who the Mother or Father is. But that isn’t the point of this. This is just an excerpt, a refresher course on history long passed and well taught. 

SaraLyn Frasier knows several things without a shadow of a doubt. One – the Milky Way galaxy is the ‘good neighbor’ of the universe. Two – humanity is more likely to have sex with the new and exotic neighbors that visited than it is to level a gun at one. Which, considering their past, shows just how far the species has come since true space flight has gotten underway. And, last, but certainly not least by any stretch of the imagination – war isn’t something humanity wants anything to do with anymore. A fact, that is, once again, new for the historically prideful and war like species. 

But, Sara _knows_ these things. Knows them like she knows her own name. War isn’t something anyone in the Milky Way galaxy wants. War means death, and when you’re a young species who just colonized four planets in your home planetary system, with another dozen currently being bought up to snuff in the outer wings - war means death. Species extinction. 

People avoid violence as a result. Avoid it like you avoid scurvy on a deep space delivery run. Avoid it like you avoid the weird grey beer that definitely makes half the populace projectile vomit because allergies are alive and well here in the 24th century. Humans do their damnedest to stay in their lane. It’s a good lane, prosperous lane, _safe_ lane. It’s the trade lane. They are the dwarves of the universe. It’s the we’re friends with _everyone_ and we’d like to keep it that way lane. 

It is most obviously – we don’t have guns big enough to deal with all of you anymore – lane. 

So, when the intrepid Captain Frasier spots a large, and clearly military cruiser on the horizon, she goes into high alert. Military cruisers are not a good thing. It can mean anything from pirates – which is the best-case scenario – to war. Which is the worst-case scenario. It’s the someone fucked up, scenario. Someone fucked up _hard_ , and Sara is _not_ going to be the first casualty of someone else’s fuck up, thank you very much. She slaps her hand down onto one of several neatly lined up buttons on her flight console before starting to hurriedly alter their course. 

 _Attention crew members, battle cruiser on radar. All hands brace for stealth drive activation. All hands, brace for stealth drive activation_. 

There is an alarm off to her right, and Sara gulps, hitting her communication link hovering at her jaw. “Communications, come in.” 

“Comms here.” 

“Put out a general S.O.S, I’ve got a speed alarm sounding, it looks like they’re on intercept course.” 

“Fuck, spotted us?” God, he hated space travel, the money isn’t worth it anymore. It’s just not.  

“Not sure, but they know _something_ is over here. Not taking any chances, that’s a big bastard, we don’t have any weapons either.”

“No shit, I hadn’t noticed. I’ll get the goddamn beacons up.” 

She snorts at the retort, Jameson used sarcasm and profanity to ease stress. Some people freak out, but not her communications expert, oh no. He didn’t break down until after the crisis. Until then, he just swore, and swore, and swore. 

“Fingers crossed we can just blush later and tell the higher ups we freaked out.” 

“Yeah. Fingers fuckin’ crossed. Comms out.” The comm link dies and Sara goes back to getting the stealth drive going. She puts in a call to her engineering team.  They need to get out of dodge fast. 

  

“Sir!” One of the younger ensign’s chirps in a tonality that indicates nervousness. It’s something the race hasn’t been able to shake, and likely never will. A dead giveaway to outsiders they weren’t completely calm. A serious security issue when speaking to species who communicate in the same manner. And it’s clear from the sibilant nature of the undertones, that something is not going the way it should, perhaps it is even going _very wrong_. The Commander-in-Charge turns toward the ensign, large (larger than a human at any rate) electric-green eyes narrowed.

“Report.” 

“Milky Way Vessel transmission has been picked up on our communications array. SOS message on repeat, Sir. We can’t find the vessel on scanners, it isn’t clear if they’re stealthier or gone. Last locale is the edge of the Andromeda II galaxy, they seem to have been on course for IC 10 star cluster.” 

The Commander goes rigid. The IC 10 cluster was the Hegemony ruled cluster. They were not on good terms with the Andromedons. This could go very poorly startlingly quick. He taps at his chair controls. The Captain needed to be informed. The High Command must be made aware. Earthlings are known to be fragile creatures, they had no beaks, nor were their bones particularly strong. They were to be kept safe until evolution caught up with them. That was the edict of High Command. 

“Commander?”

“Check all news feeds, find me the slip stream the Beacon was launched in, inform high command, do so with all haste. We must find the Milky Way vessel, intact if at all possible.” 

If the Andromedons ride to war, the Milky Way would be devastated. 

 **This is the Milky Way Federation Ship SS Kessel Run, we are under attack. Coordinates negative seven dash zero five five seven eight. I repeat, we are under attack and in need of immediate armed assistance with evac escort.** His voice is on repeat and were this situation different, Jameson might laugh about it. But there are twelve different alarms blaring only to slowly be cut off one by one as decks begin to depressurize as holes are ripped through them. 

Forty dead and counting. 

“Jameson! Get to your emergency pod _now_ , we’re not going to make it out of here on the Kessel.” Sara yelps over coms, and he can hear her own pod door opening, the announcement of the launch sequence. Too many casualties already. They can’t have more. 

“Give me a second!” 

Three more beacons launched. 

**This is the Milky Way Federation Ship SS Kessel Run, we are under attack….**

“Madam Commander! We have word of a Milky Way distress beacon in the Andromeda galaxy having gone off. No sign yet of survivors or debris. The nearest ship is enroute through the slipstreams.”

Electric green eyes widen as her mouth works without sound coming from it. An Earthling vessel being attacked? By _Andromedons?_ They’ve been quiet before the Earthing launch into the galactic community. It doesn’t make sense. 

“Get me a secure transmission to the Milky Way President, then open lines to the neighboring galaxies, we have a very serious problem brewing.” Her chirps are quick, harsh, the undertones speaking nothing of fear or distress. This is how the Commander has kept her position so long, she’s forged of fire and battle. 

“Kessel pods, this is your Captain, sound off.” Sara never thought this would be how her second ever deep space run would go. She’s only twenty-four for stars sake! Twenty-four and having to count how many escape pods had made it clear. 

“Engineering pod 24 checking in.”

“Comms pod 19 checking in.” 

“Navigation pod 12 checking in.” 

“Galley pod 4 checking in.” 

Chancing a moment to look back, Sara witnesses the flashes of bright blue that indicate laser fire. She wishes she could hear explosions, the screams of those who can’t get off her beloved ship in time. But, Space is cold and cruel, and silent. She just sees the flashes of fire as they die out, oxygen pulled violently from the ship interior. 

“Jameson are you out?” 

“Yeah, I’m out. Son of a bitch. Is there a war on we don’t know about?” 

“I don’t know. I need you to run pod checks with me. Make sure their stealth shields are operational.”

“You got it boss.” 

“This is your Federation President coming into your homes, and jobs, live from the government center. Regrettably, it has come to my attention that a state vessel has come under fire by a neighboring government. I urge you all to not listen to any rumors you may here on the deep range wireless and wait for information from official channels. At this time, we do not know if the vessel has made it out of the attack intact, but we will endeavor to keep the public appraised of the situation. 

This is an emotional situation, but I urge you to go about your day as you normally would. At this time, we do not know what motivated the attack or if anyone is taking responsibility for the attack. Do not panic. Our stem defenses are active, the High Command of Sirius 5 is coming to our vessels’ aide and sending troops to reinforce our borders. We are safe.” 

Shayla sighs as the live transmission light clicks off and she stands up from the chair, smoothing out her blue suit. A soothing color, the stylist said, something to reinforce the keep calm message they were sending. She’s too young for this, too green. It’s the first and only time the sitting President wishes that her older compatriots had beat her in the election. The dignified former Military officer would have handled this better, no doubt, addressing the galaxy in her old dress blues and sock bun. Instead, it’s just her, in her designer suit, and flats that make whispering sounds against the steel flooring of the Government center. 

“That was better than we could have hoped for. So far there isn’t any up tick in emergency service calls, no reports of panic. We’ll give it another hour of close monitoring, as long as we keep the public abreast of the situation we can keep the people controlled, Ma’am” 

Her personal assistant falls into step beside her as she exits the sound stage replica office to go to her real office. She needs to get on the horn to the Hegemon, who is already mobilizing for the Andromeda galaxy. Reports from the Imperials are already coming in, they too are moving. They’re a galaxy away from Andromeda and they’re on the move.  His eyes flit along the surface of his tablet, more interested in than where his feet are stepping. 

“Are all the translators working this time? I don’t want to have a repeat of the inauguration fiasco.” Shayla remarks moving through the crush of people with ease. 

“All translation systems are working flawlessly. The Hegemon is currently on view screen, his Imperial Majesty is waiting his turn, Senator Branston is reaching out to the Karins and Senator Clovis is reach out to the Aquatic people, I can’t remember their name –.”

“The Ourablous?” 

“Yes ma’am.”

“Jesus, we’re reaching out to the Ourablous? They’ve got to be the quietest species I’ve ever met…”

“But fierce, and very interested in keeping the salt trade routes open.”  Her other assistant is staring off into space, or seems to be, eyes moving rapidly from side to side. No doubt taking in the many feeds from emergency services, and departments of defense. How neither assistant hasn’t walked into a door or window yet is beyond the young President. 

“Shit, Cap, we got a problem!”

“Tell me something I don’t already know, Jameson!” Sarah is holding onto the handles of her pod and praying. She’s praying to the oldest gods she knows and watching as two pods to either side of her explode. 

“We aren’t meant to land on actual land in these things!”

“I KNOW JAMESON!”

“We don’t know where this planet even is, Captain!”

“I FUCKING KNOW JAMESON!” 

“Sir! Debris on scanner.” The navigations officer swivels in his seat, looking distressed. “It looks like it’s the same model as the _Kessel,_ we are scanning now for identifying materials or numbers.” 

He feels his hearts drop into his stomach. This has officially become a Problem. The High Command was going to go mad, and when the Earthlings got wind of this, they would no doubt mourn and call for aid to go to war. Ill equipped as the civilization is, to war the Andromedons would be to die. He’s not sure that would stop them, he knows the Milky Way’s history, short as it is. An attack like this will not be taken lightly. 

“Get the Captain and High Command back on a secure line. Lieutenant, take over the Command until the night shift Commander comes on deck, I will go meet the Captain. Navigation, Communications, keep me briefed so I may brief them.” 

“Madam President, the Hegemony is at your service. My fleet is in slipstream as we speak, enroute to rendezvous with the Cirrpid High Command ship. We will figure out what has happened and neutralize this threat to our youngest sister galaxy.” The Hegemon is an imposing figure if the President has ever seen one. Then again, the entire species is huge, the very definition of alien. Humanoid, but metallic looking skin, flat noses, long slopped skulls, and muscles for days. 

There is nothing appealing to her about the species, but there are plenty little halflings running around this universe to say that some humans were _very_ appreciative of the species. 

“Hegemon Drrgo, thank you for your swift response. We had no idea you were already apprised of the situation.” Her tone is measured. Translations of tone could make things quickly devolve, something every political hopeful learned during their long college stay. 

“Madam High Commander contacted me, known if the various trade deals the Hegemony and Federation have. She is always two steps ahead of the rest of us. Truly a remarkable military mind.” There is grudging respect in the undertone of blunt wording. If there were to more highly militaristic species, Miller wasn’t aware of them yet.

“Valued among her people and mine.” The answer is automatic, formal, almost rote. 

“Now, to business, we have no intention of asking the Federation to pay for our service to you in this time of need. In fact, we hope this show of comradery further cements our devotion to the coalition we have embarked upon with your people.”

Shayla mentally sighs. It was going to be a very, very long night. 

“Jameson, you alive?” 

“Yeah. Fuck it feels like I was put through a shredder. Collins, you alive? What about you McClerin?” 

“We’re here, boss. Boss Lady alive?”

“Yeah, Fraiser’s still kicking. Let’s get the recall roster rolling, we need to figure out where we are and who to look out for.”

“Yessir.” 

The Ourablous are not even vaguely human like, nor do they communicate in a verbal method that is translatable. Psionic, thankfully, they take care to touch minds that can handle the communication, and leaves those who cannot alone. The plight of the younglings is just beginning, and they would not leave them to their fate. 

The Octopus like beings shake and trill as they speak with the Human ambassador, ensuring they would be sending s hips to aid the youngling species. The Andromedons were not to be trusted, if the Cirrpid did not already encounter them, that meant the Andromedons were hiding, waiting for a weakness to take advantage of and strike. 

Translucent white flashes a gentle pink and alarming purple to red in quick succession. The Queen would need to make the official call, but they were with the young Humans. Their salt water on the home planet was not the only reason to be with them, the Ourablous remembered being where the humans are now.

“Ma’am, the Ourablous are with us, as are the Cirrpid, whose ships are just forty minutes out, the Hegemony ships are two hours out. We’ve got a notice from the Cirrpid outpost on outer edges of Cassiopeia that the Deradanians are mobilizing in our defense as well.”  Mikah’s eyes are following the emails as they crop up and he misses the way the President almost trips over her own feet. 

The Deradanians? They had just begun to make trade connections with that civilization. It wasn’t even over anything interesting. They wanted _corn_. 

“Ma’am, there is an incoming call from the Empress of the Virgo Supercluster. She wants to know if we will be needing monetary aid or triage supplies.” 

“What the hell?” This time President Shayla Miller can’t keep herself from hiding her surprise. The Empress dealt with a massive area, had for _centuries_ , and enormous number of people routinely. Even if her name implied she ruled all within their cluster, she really only dealt with those planets and species that had pledged allegiance around the time humans were figuring out how to make fire. Earth, _the milky way_ should be far below her notice.  “I – Thank her for the gracious offer of monetary aid and triage supplies but at this moment there has been no direct attack on any planetary system within our holding…” 

“Madam High Commander let the Empress know about the situation,” Mikah provides the information before nodding sharply, his dark hair swinging around his face. “Yes Ma’am. King Gerxlknn is requesting a video transmission call with you, he wants to offer his aide.” 

“He’s all the way over in the Maffei II galaxy – how?” 

“The Hegemon, Ma’am. We’re part of the Eastern Virgo Supercluster Coalition, an attack against one is an issue for all.” 

“But – don’t the Andromedons belong to the Western half?” 

“No ma’am, they succeeded twenty-three years ago, it’s not widely known, apparently. Her Majesty made that quite clear in her email, she’s apologizing for the issues they are causing us. It’s almost as if the Andromedons are wayward step children.” 

“This is ridiculous.”

“I think we should just be glad they’re all rallying to our side, honestly.” 

“I am it’s just –“

“Yes Ma’am, I know what you mean.”

“Commander – the vessel is a Cirrpid battle cruiser. They are responding to the distress beacon left by the lone freighter ship. It was an Earth Vessel.” The young officer swallows hard, Cirrpids are a meritocracy and utterly Military. Everyone went into their military – _everyone -_ before they began civilian life. No citizen was left untrained. The Cirrpid High Command is a thing of legend. 

“We will have a worthy foe, then. The Imperatrix has decreed it is past time our people were washed in the blood of the unworthy. They are the mouth piece of the Sisters, and our gloried souls are at their beck and call.” 

“Y-yes Commander.” 

“Imperatrix Krtrid – the humans, a weak species to be sure, truly unworthy of the Sisters’ words, have somehow garnered the support of most of the Cluster. Our intelligence network is picking up com chatter from all over the Cluster in defense of the small and useless people.” 

The Imperatrix blinks slowly, feline like eyes adjusting to the burst of light that came with the acolyte’s abrupt entrance. Forked tongue snakes out to taste the air – fear, uncertainty. That cannot hold, cannot be allowed to hold. Peace has reigned the life span of five Imperatrix before him. Humanity is weak, has not been tried by fire as the rest have, this is how it is meant to go. The interference of other species is unfortunate. 

“The Sisters call for the war drums of old to be beaten in cadence, we cannot deny them their due. We march on the Human galaxy, and we will see glorious battle. The support the Humans have garnered will wane when the trade routes are cut off, when the casualties become too much for the Cirrpids or Ourablous to sustain. It is decreed we are the fire that smites Humanity or gives birth to the enlightened era of Humanity.” 

“Madam President. We have word on survivors!”  Tara almost yells the news, it shocked her as it came across her information stream. The Federation navy had picked up a smaller encrypted beacon some hours before. A planet on the outskirts of the IC 10 galaxy. About a hundred and fifty survivors all told. Caught between an Andromedons war ship and a Cirrpid Battle cruiser. 

“Get me a live feed to the people, it’s been two days, we need to keep them on top of this to keep panic from breaking out. One of the outer spirals already had reports of a minor conflict with Hegemony soldiers securing our borders. No one wants to trust anyone, and I _will not_ allow this coalition to be turned to dust because we’re scared of aliens.”

“Boss, the higher ups are telling us to sit tight and wait for extraction. Not sure they realize none of us can get out of our pods or risk asphyxiation.” Jameson sounds tired, and SaraLyn doesn’t blame him for it. They had maybe another two days of air before they had to engage CO2 scrubbers and possibly drain the battery core just to breath. This planet is not built to support humans, and they didn’t have helmets or safe suits to get out of these death bubbles. 

“Then tell them. We already lost Michaels because of pod integrity, we aren’t losing anyone else.” She bites out the directive and fights to keep her heart rate even. The more upset she became the more air she used. They all had to stay as calm as possible. None of them wanted to hear the panicked and terrified screams of one of the crew mates again. 

 **“I come to you, Federation citizens, with good news. The attacked vessel, SS Kessel Run, was not a complete loss of life. Some families will be welcoming home their loved ones, while other are unfortunately left to mourn. The government will be taking care of mourning service expenses and compensating the families for the loss.** **This isn’t what your children, wives, husbands, sisters or brothers signed up for, and this is the best reparation I can make to you.”**

“Commander,” the ensign from the alpha shift is far to sunny for having worked all the way to gamma. “Survivors have been located. We have five ships in slip stream from our home world, and eight from the Hegemony, soon we will be able to extract the survivors. However, we will need to work quickly, they are running out of air.” 

“Imperatrix, we are in place to begin assault on the Milky Way galaxy. Our losses are projected to be quite high unless we attack when they are otherwise occupied.” The general is uneasy in the presence of the Imperatrix. Truthfully the General is uncomfortable in the great temple to the Sister. Xir did not ascribe to religion, no that it was something xe made known. 

The Sisters are a cruel set of deities to hold on high to be sure. The Mother, the Judge, the Silent. The Mother who gave birth and nurtured everyone within the universe. The judge who watched their deeds and weighed you before you could cross from the living plain into death. The Silent who tortured those souls who failed to uphold the decrees of the Sisters, who disobeyed the teachings and Word of the Imperatrix.

“Do you wait from word on high before commencing the battle, General? You know the Word has been handed down already, the Sisters will it that Humanity should be tried by fire. Set the flame to them.” 

“As you say, Imperatrix.” 

As xe leaves, xir sighs, this attack was ill thought out. It would bring the cluster down on their heads. The intelligence operatives were reporting daily of more coalition members responding to the situation the Imperatrix had created attacking a freighter ship. What’s more, there were survivors stranded on a nearby planet, inhospitable and apparently running out of oxygen. This has disaster written all over it and the General doesn’t know how the Temple can condone what the Imperatrix has decreed. Surely, they see what folly it is to continue the path? Surely survival is more important than the gloried afterlife? 

“Captain, Karin ships are in position to cover us as extraction begins. Teams in place, humans have four hours of oxygen left.” 

“Get the humans off that planet now. Commander do you read me?” 

“Aye sir.” 

“Bring everyone back alive.” 

“Yes, Sir.” 

**“People of the Federation, war is upon us. But we are not alone, we are not undefended, our coalition members are stepping to the plate as promised to help keep all of you safe. They have pledged to keep humanity safe, and gods willing we will not see a long drawn out war.**

**The Government Center has begun to send out shuttles to settlements of all sizes within the outer arms of the galaxy. We ask you to please come into the Galaxy core so we may fight without the worry of civilian casualties. Our military is working in tandem with seven others right now, planning on how best to keep the fighting off of planets all together.**

**Our survivors from the attack on the** _**Kessel Run** _ **have been brought onto the Cirrpid ship that first responded to their distress call. As of this moment, we have word the ship is in route to the nearest hospital planet to make sure our survivors are in good health after their ordeal. Please join me in tanking the Cirrpid people and their High Command for the aid they have given us thus far and continue to give.”**

_**“This is Mel Visner with Galactic news. Over the last week, our Cluster has been following the harrowing tale of the MWF commissioned SS Kessel run. After being attacked unprovoked outside of the slipstream while on a delivery run to the IC 10 galaxy, which we know to be under rule of the Hegemon, the crew evacuated their ship, with only 150 survivors making it planet side safely. We’re told 147 survivors remain, three having died to pod structure breeches after landing. The Cirrpid High Commander has taken great care of our humans, placing them on the hospital planet Ks1450 to recover safely before arranging transportation back to earth.** _

_**We have only two names of the surviving crew, Captain SaraLyn Fraiser, and communications officer, Lieutenant Commander Jameson Roberts. Join us in congratulating these two spectacular officers in saving the lives that they did.** _

_**Now, I will hand things off to my co-anchor who will brief you on the war that broke out just over a week ago.”** _


End file.
